Fun Facts

Ten Fun Facts about IAM Conversations:
 

  1. Christy had no intention of continuing the interviews after Encounter 09, but IAM’s founder, Makoto Fujimura, encouraged her to carry on with them. His gentle insistence and words of encouragement for “The Christy Tennant Show” are why the podcast continues today.
     
  2. IAM Conversations is called “IAM Conversations” thanks in large part to a late-night search for a domain name. Back when IAM Conversations was just “the IAM podcast,” Mako Fujimura began referring to it as “The Christy Tennant Show.” When it was time to get its own URL, Christy sat up one night looking up various options of something besides “The Christy Tennant Show” that made sense for IAM’s conversational podcast. After several attempts, she found a URL that was available: www.IAMConversations.com, and the podcast got its name.
     
  3. Christy conducted her interview with former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins from her childhood bedroom in Roanoke, Virginia, during the Thanksgiving holiday 2008. Her nephews were playing outside her bedroom door, and she had to mute some of their conversations in editing.
     
  4. Christy’s conversation with Emmy-award-winning actress Patricia Heaton took place during two different phone calls in one day, while Ms. Heaton was on set shooting her NBC hit show “The Middle.” They had to break the conversation when Ms. Heaton was called to shoot some scenes, then resumed later in the day.
     
  5. The IAM Conversations theme song, “Double Happiness,” was originally written and performed by Kevin Gosa for his sister’s wedding.
     
  6. Christy’s interview with singer/songwriter Sara Groves took place in Cape Town, South Africa, when they were both there for a conference.
     
  7. When Christy called Donald Miller for their interview, he was riding his bicycle.
     
  8. The IAM Conversations logo was designed by Oklahoma-based graphic designer Corey Fuller.
     
  9. Christy’s dog, Jonah, barked at squirrels throughout her interview with Donald Miller. She did her best to mute out as much barking as she could, but you can still her it a few times if you listen closely.
     
  10. The record for longest IAM Conversations interview is held by Byron Borger, owner of Hearts and Minds Books.